Muni to offer free rides on New Year’s Eve

Not that riding with a bunch of inebriated revelers on a bus or streetcar is a lot of fun, but it’s better than having them behind the wheel. And with that in mind, Muni is offering free service on New Year’s Eve, from 8 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Saturday.

Scene of last year’s New Year’s Eve crowd at Embarcadero Station.

Muni also is extending the operating hours of the Metro service, to approximately 2:15 a.m. between West Portal Station and Fourth and King Streets, and until 4 a.m. between West Portal Station and the Embarcadero Station.

BART will run trains until about 3 a.m. and skip some stops in downtown San Francisco to ease crowding. Caltrain’s last train is set to depart San Francisco’s station at Fourth and King streets at 2:15 a.m. on Saturday. Rides on Caltrain and sister agency SamTrans will be free after 11 p.m.

In addition, Muni will be putting extra buses on their late-night ”owl” routes that run between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The complimentary Muni service will cost the perennially cash-strapped city-run transit agency between $150,000 and $200,000 in lost revenue and added expenses, said Muni spokesman Paul Rose. But it may be a small price to pay to keep drunk drivers off the roads.